Facile synthesis of mesoporous NH₄V₄O₁₀ nanoflowers with high performance as cathode material for lithium battery

The mesoporous NH₄V₄O₁₀ nanoflowers have been synthesized as cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries by a β-cyclodextrin (β-CD)-assisted hydrothermal method. The flowers with clear outline and uniform size are composed of nanoflake for 200–300 nm in width and the length up to micron levels. There are mesopores with an average size of 3 nm on the surface of petals. The mesoporous nanoflowers deliver a high capacity of 242.8 mAh g⁻¹ at a current density of 200 mA g⁻¹ between 2.0 and 4.0 V. Even at high current density of 1000 mA g⁻¹, it still retains 103.5 mAh g⁻¹ (about 64.9% capacity) after 200 cycles. Besides, compared with the samples prepared without β-CD, the electrode of the mesoporous nanoflowers has a high rate of lithium transition during the lithiation/delithiation process. These results demonstrate such mesoporous NH₄V₄O₁₀ nanoflowers could be promising as a high-performance cathode for lithium-ion batteries.